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| CORRESPONDENCE |
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| Year : 2011 | Volume
: 29
| Issue : 4 | Page : 443-444 |
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Omission of extended spectrum β lactamases detection: Are the new Clinical Laboratory Standards Institute guidelines misleading?
C Chande, S Makhija, S Lilani, R Shirpurkar, P Veer, A Chivate, P Patekar, A Joshi
Department of Microbiology, Grant Medical College and Sir J. J. Group of Hospitals, Mumbai 400 008, India
| Date of Submission | 10-Mar-2011 |
| Date of Acceptance | 01-Jul-2011 |
| Date of Web Publication | 24-Nov-2011 |
Correspondence Address:
C Chande
Department of Microbiology, Grant Medical College and Sir J. J. Group of Hospitals, Mumbai 400 008
India
DOI: 10.4103/0255-0857.90197 PMID: 22120816
How to cite this article:
Chande C, Makhija S, Lilani S, Shirpurkar R, Veer P, Chivate A, Patekar P, Joshi A. Omission of extended spectrum β lactamases detection: Are the new Clinical Laboratory Standards Institute guidelines misleading?. Indian J Med Microbiol 2011;29:443-4 |
How to cite this URL:
Chande C, Makhija S, Lilani S, Shirpurkar R, Veer P, Chivate A, Patekar P, Joshi A. Omission of extended spectrum β lactamases detection: Are the new Clinical Laboratory Standards Institute guidelines misleading?. Indian J Med Microbiol [serial online] 2011 [cited 2013 May 26];29:443-4. Available from: http://www.ijmm.org/text.asp?2011/29/4/443/90197 |
Dear Editor,
Emerging bacterial resistance is the most serious problem being faced in the clinical practice today. Antibiotic susceptibility testing (AST) is the most valuable tool at the disposal of microbiology laboratory to offer assistance to the clinicians to arrive at an appropriate therapeutic conclusion. Many laboratories engaged in AST are following the guidelines defined by the Clinical Laboratory Standards Institute (CLSI) for testing and interpretation of results. As per the latest (2010) guidelines of CLSI, [1] new interpretive criteria for cephalosporins including cefazolin, cefotaxime, ceftazidime, ceftizoxime ceftriaxone and aztreonam are suggested and extended spectrum b lactamase (ESBL) detection is no longer necessary to edit results for cephalosporins, aztreonam or penicillins to resistant. The bacteriology section of Microbiology department in the Grant Medical College and Sir J J Group of Hospitals, Mumbai, started implementing the new criteria since August 2010 but also continued ESBL testing as per the CLSI 2009 [2] guidelines. In the past six months we have observed that many strains of gram negative bacilli which are resistant to third generation cephalosporins have produced zones in the susceptible range for piperacillin. All these strains were also ESBL producers, hence as per 2009 criteria, fall in the category of resistant strains and should be reported as such. However with the new criteria, in the absence of ESBL testing, such strains might erroneously be reported as piperacillin sensitive. With such grossly fallacious conclusion being drawn, a detailed discussion at a proper forum is needed between the users of new CLSI criteria. Authors will feel highly obliged if the learned contributors of this esteemed journal express their opinion on the matter.
| ~ References | |  |
| 1. | Clinical and Laboratory Standards Institute. Performance standards for antimicrobial susceptibility testing: 20th informational supplement. CLSI document M100-S20. Wayne, PA: Clinical and Laboratory Standards Institute; 2010. 
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| 2. | Clinical and Laboratory Standards Institute. Performance standards for antimicrobial susceptibility testing: 19th informational supplement. CLSI document M100-S19. Wayne, PA: Clinical and Laboratory Standards Institute; 2009.
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